Song of Solomon chapter 8

Song of Solomon Chapter 8

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

The Shulamite speaks these words to Solomon, “Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised. I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, she who used to instruct me. I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.” Song of Solomon 8:1-2

The phrase, “Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts!” means the Shulamite would have loved to have had a brother that possessed the love of Solomon. We know from Song of Solomon 1:6 that her brothers despised her because she was black, “I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.” Song of Solomon 1:5-6 In those days, it was common for siblings to be from a different mother or father, and in this case, being different colors. Her brothers made her their slave to work in their vineyards but prevented her from having her own.

As a Christian, I look back at the wasted years without Jesus Christ, and from within my soul I wished that my past would have been spent with the love of Christ, His grace and mercy.

In the past, before coming together with Solomon, the Shulamite felt rejected and kept from going outside because of being black. With Solomon, she felt very comfortable and bold to kiss Solomon outside and knew she would not be despised for her love of him. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are bold, confident, and comfortable to embrace Him, through the Holy Spirit, knowing that God will never despise us.

Like the Shulamite, who would have brought Solomon into the house of her mother if she knew him back then, we would have brought Jesus Christ into the home of our heart if we knew what we know today of His love, mercy, and grace. If we knew then what we know today, we have welcomed His words of instructions. We would have wanted Him to enjoy our experience of living for God, through Him, in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The Shulamite speaks these words to the “Daughters of Jerusalem”, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.” Song of Solomon 8:3-4

The “Daughters of Jerusalem” are us Christians who are adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. In the Holy Spirit, the advice of the Shulamite is meant for all of us.

The phrase, “do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases”, means to not force love to happen and do not rush into the love that this world offers. The love of this world can be likened to the love of the 1960’s, which was mostly sexual, which is much different than the love of Christ. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalms 27:14 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” Psalms 34:8 Our Lord Jesus has one hand under our head as He renews our mind so that we are not conformed to the ways of this world. With His right hand He embraces us with the Holy Spirit.

These words are spoken by a relative who witnessed the birth of the Shulamite, “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; There she who bore you brought you forth.” Song of Solomon 8:5

The relative saw the Shulamite and king Solomon coming out of the wilderness. The relative recalls helping to give birth to the Shulamite, who awakened her under the apple tree. To “awaken” means helping the newborn to establish the first breaths of life. As followers of Jesus Christ, He brings us from the wilderness of this world and allows us to lean on Him as our beloved Savior. A “relative” of Christianity awoken us by sharing the Gospel of Christ with us, whether that relative was within the pages of the Bible or a human being. There in the wilderness of this world we were born-again and brought forth as a member of the family of Christ, “For when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6, 8

The Shulamite speaks these words to Solomon, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, jealousy as severe as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” Song of Solomon 8:6-7

God has set a seal on our heart through His Son Jesus Christ. While the whole global culture serves the one with power over physiology to give them what to think, feel, say, and do, the Holy Spirit is the seal on our soul. Our names are sealed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb…” Revelation 13:8 The “him” in this verse is the beast of the image and mark of the best. The entity with power over physiology enlivens the image of the beast to live and speak through people as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

“Love is as strong as death” refers to the Christ dying on the Cross to atone for our sin, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 God’s jealousy for His children is as severe as the grave, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.” Zachariah 1:14 We are the citizens of Jerusalem, the eternal New Jerusalem. Those who have a hand in harming Christ and His children will face the severity of the “second death”, which are the flames of eternal hell, “for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.” Zechariah 2:8

“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it.” God loves us, and nothing can separate His love from us. In fact, He sent His only Son to die for us to atone for sin and reconcile us to Him, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35

“If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ” Mark 8:36 “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!” Ats8:20

The brothers of the Shulamite spoke these words to the Shulamite, “We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; And if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.” Song of Solomon 8:8-9

The brothers of the Shulamite were obviously very young at this time, and probably not even the same brothers mentioned in Song of Solomon 1: 6. They noticed the breasts of their little sister had not yet formed but was still thinking about what they could do for her when her wedding day would come. The phrase, “If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver…” is an enhancement to the wall as the “battlement of silver” reinforcement of watch towers, etc. Her brothers built her up by saying that she is the foundation on which to build everything that protects a city inside the wall. The phrase, “if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar”, is an enhancement to highlight and beautify the door. Her brothers were building up their sister by saying she is beautiful and needs to be seen as the entryway into a beautiful city.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to build each other up, especially to encourage the new Christians whose “breasts are not yet formed”. After all, we are the followers of Christ who embrace the Holy Spirit. We are the wall and foundation of what is built to keep the destructive carnal behavior subdued. It is no longer us who lives, but Christ who lives in us. As His children, we are the door into the presence of God as we share His Gospel, which is our born-again experience. Jesus Christ is the Door, the Way, the truth, and the Light.

“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another…building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Jude 1:20-21

“Brother won’t you help me,
sister won’t you help me
building up the temple of the Lord.”
[Chueh Song].

The Shulamite answers her brothers by saying, “I am a wall, and my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes as one who found peace.

Towers are built on a wall as a lookout station to watch over and protect a city. The Shulamite verifies what her brothers had said that her breasts are like towers [“battlement of silver”] built on the wall, and she is indeed a wall. As followers of Jesus Christ, we feed this world with the “breastmilk” of the Gospel of Christ, to welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit, who watches over this world to keep lawlessness subdued. In Jesus Christ, we are the wall against the raw carnal nature of human beings, as we live in the Spirit not by the flesh.

We live in a world today where the Holy Spirit is taken out of the world, Christianity is opposed, the watch towers are torn down, and there is no wall to keep lawlessness out. The Holy Spirit is who restrains lawlessness, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 Click for a post on the “lawless one”.

Solomon saw the Shulamite as someone who had found peace, free of the inner turmoil, strife, and conflict. As followers of Jesus Christ, we find peace in the eyes of God because we are the wall against the influences of inherited sin, and we are the watchtower to let everyone know to prepare for the return of Jesus Christ. That preparation can be summed up like this, believe in God through Jesus Christ and embrace the presence of the Holy Spirit, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The Shulamite spoke these words about and to Solomon, “Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; He leased the vineyard to keepers; Everyone was to bring for its fruit a thousand silver coins. My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, and those who tend its fruit two hundred. 8:11-12

Solomon leased out his own vineyard to others to manage for him and required that they pay him a thousand silver coins in return for the harvest of the fruit [this is like a business franchise nowadays]. However, he gave the Shulamite woman her very own vineyard to manage, to watch over, and to hire her own employees. Even though Solomon gave this to her as a gift, she wanted to give Solomon a thousand silver coins, and to pay her employees two hundred silver coins. In Song of Solomon 1:5-6, the Shulamite was prohibited from owning her own vineyard because she was black, but Solomon saw past her skin color, into her soul, and gave her 100% ownership of her own vineyard.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are given the vineyard that grows within the soul, and the fruit is the blossom of Holy Spirit. From our love for our Lord Jesus, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is our offering to Him, we want Him to be enriched by that fruit as our service to Him. We want the laborers of the harvest, other Christians, also to be enriched by the fruit of the Holy Spirit living through us. Jesus Christ speaks a parable about those to whom God has hired to watch His vineyard, click here for that parable in Matthew 21:33-46.

Solomon spoke these words to the Shulamite, “You who dwell in the gardens, the companions listen for your voice—Let me hear it!” Song of Solomon 8:13

Solomon empowered the Shulamite, and her companions listened for her voice, and Solomon also wanted to hear her voice.

As Christians, we are those who live in the garden where the fruit of the Holy Spirit blossoms. We listen for one another’s voice because in Christ [not the sweetness of the flesh], “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Ephesians 5:18-21

God wants to hear the voice of Christians flowing with the holy Spirit, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 2:15

The Shulamite wanted Solomon to come to her quickly, as she said to him, “Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.” Song of Solomon 8:14

As Christians, we want our lord Jesus to return quickly, and He says to us, “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book… I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work…He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Revelation 22:7, 12, 20-21

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11